Oscar Nominee: Best Actor In A Supporting Role

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Oscar Nominee

Crimes And Misdemeanors

American auteur Woody Allen explores themes of good and evil in this masterful modern-day morality play. When opthamologist Judah Rosenthal (Oscar-nominated Martin Landau) is threatened with ruin by his mistress if he doesn't marry her, he considers the ultimate solution to his problem: murder. Meanwhile, documentary filmmaker Clifford Stern is faced with an equally heinous moral dilemma: selling out. Allen compares the choices both men make, using a double storyline to brilliantly pair sharp comedy with harrowing drama.

Casablanca

A truly perfect movie, the 1942 Casablanca still wows viewers today, and for good reason. Its unique story of a love triangle set against terribly high stakes in the war against a monster is sophisticated instead of outlandish, intriguing instead of garish. Humphrey Bogart plays the allegedly apolitical club owner in unoccupied French territory that is nevertheless crawling with Nazis; Ingrid Bergman is the lover who mysteriously deserted him in Paris; and Paul Heinreid is her heroic, slightly bewildered husband.

Chicago

Winner of six Academy Awards and a Golden Globe, Chicago is a dazzling spectacle cheered by audiences and critics alike! At a time when crimes of passion result in celebrity headlines, nightclub sensation Velma Kelly (Zeta-Jones) and spotlight-seeking Roxie Hart (Rene Zellweger) both find themselves sharing space on Chicago's famed Murderess Row! They also share Billy Flynn (Richard Gere), the town's slickest lawyer with a talent for turning notorious defendants into local legends. But in Chicago, there's only room for one legend!

Catch Me If You Can

Leonardo Di Caprio and Tom Hanks engage in a game of cat and mouse in the real-life crime drama Catch Me If You Can. Frank Abagnale, Jr. (Leonardo Di Caprio) worked as a doctor, a lawyer and as a co-pilot for a major airline - all before his 18th birthday. A master of deception, he was also a brilliant forger, whose skill gave him his first real claim to fame: at the age of 17, Frank Abagnale, Jr. became the most successful bank robber in the history of the United States.

Chariots Of Fire

England's finest athletes have begun their quest for glory in the 1924 Olympic Games. Success brings honor to their nation. For two runners, the honor at stake is a personal honor... and their challenge one from within. Winner of four 1981 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Chariots Of Fire is the inspiring true story of Harold Abrahams, Eric Liddell and the team that brought Britain one of its greatest sports victories.

The Cooler

The premise of this swinging Vegas picture is enough to carry it over its narrative rough spots. The unluckiest sap on the planet (William H. Macy) is employed as a "cooler" at a casino; his very presence can chill the hot streak of any patron on a roll. He's valued by the old-school manager of the place, a role given a two-fisted, bourbon-swilling incarnation by Alec Baldwin. Macy means to quit, but then he falls for a waitress (the excellent Maria Bello, from Permanent Midnight)--might his luck be changing?

Collateral

Collateral offers a change of pace for Tom Cruise as a ruthless contract killer, but that's just one of many reasons to recommend this well-crafted thriller. It's from Michael Mann, after all, and the director's stellar track record with crime thrillers (Thief, Manhunter, and especially Heat) guarantees a rich combination of intelligent plotting, well-drawn characters, and escalating tension, beginning here when icy hit-man Vincent (Cruise) recruits cab driver Max (Jamie Foxx) to drive him through a nocturnal tour of Los Angeles, during which he will execute five people in a 10-hour spree.

The Bridge On The River Kwai

Director David Lean's masterful 1957 realization of Pierre Boulle's novel remains a benchmark for war films, and a deeply absorbing movie by any standard--like most of Lean's canon, The Bridge on the River Kwai achieves a richness in theme, narrative, and characterization that transcends genre. The story centers on a Japanese prison camp isolated deep in the jungles of Southeast Asia, where the remorseless Colonel Saito (Sessue Hayakawa) has been charged with building a vitally important railway bridge.

The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas

The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas documents in rousing song and dance a new Texas Legend, which now joins the Alamo as a historical institution immortalized in story, song, book, play and movie. The demise of the real life Chicken Ranch inspired the musical stage play, and now the big screen version stars Burt Reynoldsias Sheriff Ed Earl Dodd and Dolly Parton as the Chicken Ranch's proprietress, Miss Mona. The two join together not only in romance, but to fight big city TV crusader Melvin P.

Apollo 13

It had been less than a year since man first walked on the moon, but as far as the American public was concerned, Apollo 13 was just another "routine" space flight--until these words pierced the immense void of space: "Houston, we have a problem." Ron Howard directs Academy Award-winner Tom Hanks in a riveting suspense-thriller. Stranded 205,000 miles from earth in a crippled spacecraft, astronauts Jim Lovell, Fred Haise and Jack Swigert fight a desperate battle to survive.

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